A Puig for Hamels deal can’t happen because the Dodgers said they aren’t trading him. Right?

The Red Sox and A’s made the Jon Lester-Yoenis Cespedes swap, and we wonder which teams will make a similar hitter-for-pitcher deal this season? How about Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig for Phillies lefty Cole Hamels? Would Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski flip Cespedes for a pitcher? Or would he deal David Price for a hitter?

In both sports and business, there is a popular idea that a group is made better or worse by how it generates or loses energy together. So-called “energy givers” are valued, and “energy suckers” are rooted out and discarded. Chiefs coach Andy Reid, among many others, refers to this regularly.

There is so much talk in sports about team chemistry, an impossibly vague term that often confuses cause and effect. Maybe there’s some of that here, too — there’d be a lot fewer high fives ...

The Angels’ present need is clearly identified: a starting left fielder. They would prefer to make a trade without disrupting the major league roster or surrendering their top prospect, pitcher Sean Newcomb. The mild-mannered Stoneman sounded bolder about the likelihood of a significant trade now than he ever did in his long run as general manager.

“The expectation is we’ll be able to get something done,” he said.

The Angels have been linked to Jay Bruce of the Cincinnati Reds, Gerardo Parra ...

As A.J. Burnett sees it, a lack of execution led to his two subpar starts after the All-Star break. Too many pitches left over the plate, especially to left-handers. Simple issues to address, small tweaks he has made before.

His previous two outings stand out in sharp relief against his first-half performance, but Burnett cautioned against using that as a yardstick.

“You expect me to go out and do what I did the first half, you’re nuts,” he said after the Pirates lost to the Washington ...

Harvey made some mechanical adjustments, pitched on normal rest, and found his slider.

Manager Terry Collins suggested that pitching on standard rest probably helped Harvey, too. Harvey has groused about working on extra rest. The Mets have ditched a six-man rotation. They don’t plan to reintroduce even spot starts over the next few weeks.

Asked about the key to Harvey’s improved showing, Collins said: “I’m sure he’ll tell you, ‘a five-man rotation.’ I think that had something to do ...

“I mean, it’s not what I envisioned,” Hamels said, asked if he thought about this being his final start with the Phillies. “It’s not what I thought. It’s not in my thought process. I think all I’ve been thinking about the past couple days was just to kind of correct my pitching, just being able to be out there and enjoy the moment.”

Hamels had a 19.89 ERA in his past two starts, which had many wondering if he would be traded before Friday’s 4 p.m. ET Deadline. Yes, ...

Saturday, July 25, 2015

So you’ve got all those contending teams and all those late-July trades, and I can’t find a single compelling instance of a player who really made a difference.

Is this normal? No, and yes. Last season was atypical, just in terms of how few division races wound up being even remotely close. But let’s just think about the math for a moment. Leaving aside Mike Trout, your typical great player is worth about six wins above replacement over a whole season … ...

Daily News reported that Jackson yelled at the fan: “I already signed one, and you go back to the (expletive) line and come up again. That’s (expletive) up. Now, it’s my time to eat dinner with people I seldom see. It’s (expletive) up. Pay for them like everybody else.’’

Jackson did not deny the exchange, but repeatedly said he did not shove or push the fan.

Devon Travis has been a pleasant surprise for the Jays this season, as he’s hit better than anyone could have expected out of the gate. Despite a horrible month of May when he tried to play through a shoulder injury, he’s hit to a 129 wRC+ so far with solid defense at 2nd. Additionally, he may be helping the Jays in other ways, as it seems as though he may be involved in stealing signs.

I was watching the Jays game against Oakland July 22nd, and after Devon Travis hit a double in the top ...

Perilously close to overtaking Babe Ruth as the GOAT in real life, Bonds drops to eighth in position-player WAR when we dock his steroid-era production by 33 percent. That leaves us with an all-time top five far more palatable to baseball traditionalists: Ruth, Willie Mays, Ty Cobb, Aaron and Honus Wagner.5

The debate over steroids in baseball is bitter and divisive, but this solution represents a compromise, based on real data, that attempts to meet all camps ...

The right-hander with 311 victories over 20 major league seasons and the leader of the world champion 1969 Mets also is keeping a close eye on the pitching renaissance going on at Citi Field. He is doing that the old-fashioned way, looking at box scores every morning.

He loves what he sees of the Mets young staff, which includes All-Star Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey, Noah Syndergaard and the injured Steven Matz and Zack Wheeler.

Mets get some help. The Braves save some cash and add more pitching depth to their minor league system.

Stuck among the National League’s worst offensive teams for most of this summer, the Mets on Friday saw their season-long hunt for offense finally bear fruit. The club announced late Friday that it has acquired third baseman Juan Uribe, utility man Kelly Johnson and cash from the Braves, in exchange for pitching prospects John Gant and Rob Whalen.

[Kyle] Barraclough, 25, was the Cardinals’ seventh-round pick in 2012. He had a 0.60 ERA in 11 games at A-ball this season before being promoted to Double A, where he has posted a 3.28 ERA in 23 games with eight saves.

Heavy Seas Beer, a Baltimore-based brewery, will commemorate the 20th anniversary of Cal Ripken Jr. breaking Lou Gehrig’s record of 2,130 consecutive games played with a special “Fielder’s Choice” brew featuring Ripken-themed packaging.

Figured it wouldn’t hurt to have a Greinke thread around, given the streak. Plus, there’s a fun story from Posnanski.

So Gordon was pretty excited when Greinke called him into the video room. He figured that Greinke must have found something in his swing, something small, some little flaw that he could fix and it would turn his entire season around. He followed Greinke to to the monitor. Greinke turned it on.

The Orioles dropped to 19-30 on the road this season with their ninth loss in their past 12 games away from Camden Yards. They couldn’t leave New York quick enough, looking to salvage their nine-game road trip with three games against the Tampa Bay Rays this weekend

“What else are you going to do, dwell on it? No man. That’s not good for sports,” said Orioles center fielder Adam Jones, who was 0-for-4 Thursday and 2-for-12 in the series. “It’s not good ...